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Hi I'm Annette

I love a Kentucky Bluegrass jam session-especially with family and friends! I play upright bass and sing harmony, & I'm a Mormon.

About Me

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I have had my dreams come true. I wanted an everlasting marriage and a home full of children. Husband and I were blessed with a Baker's Dozen, and he has sacrificed much so I could be home with them full time. They are mostly grown. It is a joy to watch them start families, serve others, and build careers.
Was it hard and chaotic? Yup! Was it costly and exhausting? Yup! Was I good at it? Nope! I had more opportunities to repent than most folks. My passion for music and learning translated into a musical home and home schooling. I realize now that I am, and have always been, the student! The children grew up to be responsible, capable, enthusiastic, useful adults, but I learned the most.
I like to write and read and think and teach. Our music, since coming to Kentucky, has changed from classical piano to guitar, mandolin, banjo, chirango, upright bass, and tin whistle. And we jam with folks near and far. Kentucky music is a wonderfully social past time, and includes the silver-haired citizens that we love!
We like the outdoors. We have milked cows, pulled weeds, and canned peaches. We have played night games and lived on a beach. Whatever success we have had has been a miracle. We have no magic formula except wanting and trying to live what we believe. Heavenly Father blesses those whose hearts are in the right place and whose actions are evidence of that. There is more power in simple faith than in creative excuses. I know He has blessed us in big ways.

Why I am a Mormon

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I am a Mormon because it makes sense and feels good. The more I know of the Gospel and the more I experience life, the more sense it makes and the better it feels to be a Mormon. For example, I saw the effects of alcohol as a child, and so it was easy to understand and accept the wisdom in the Mormon health code: no alcohol, no tobacco, no drugs, or addictive substances.
When a prophet (ancient or modern) speaks, he makes sense. Here are some of the sensible directions of living prophets:
Get a real education--without cheating or excessive debt.
Develop healthy relationships--don't approach sex as a form of recreation or submission, after all, God ordained it to be beautifully sacred within a marriage.
Be kind to your neighbor--as opposed to not knowing you HAVE a neighbor. Limit your involvement with computer games and gadgets. Get to know people and learn to see the needs of others inside the home and out.
Face challenges, disappointments, and tragedies with the "big picture" in mind. Blame, despair, hopelessness, and anger are all tools of an adversary that does not care about your future. Believing God's Plan of Happiness means, "Chin up!" Experience reminds us to repent (change) and develops compassion for others. "Things will get better: they always do."
Prophets have lived at every time period that included God's people on the earth. Every one of them delivered a divinely tailored message from God to His children, and there is a prophet who does so today, as well. That makes sense to me, and it feels good! So when President Thomas S. Monson speaks, we believe it, and that settles it!
I am a Mormon because I know of no other religion that teaches the Gospel of Christ in such simplicity and clarity and beauty and completeness AND expects it members to live it. I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I've studied and taught it doctrines for over thirty years. It brings me such peace. I am a Mormon by happy choice!

How I live my faith

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In the Mormon church, everyone gets a chance to help. My first "calling" came at age twelve when I cared for the babies of those who taught the children at church. At age thirteen, I was leading the music for the children's Sunday School. At age fifteen, I led the adult Sunday School music which at that time included teaching them new hymns. At age seventeen I was camp director for the other teenage girls in my town. All the youth, along with lay adults, took a turn preparing and "preaching" during the regular Sunday afternoon services. The church is quite the training ground for "grownup" service.
My favorite callings involve teaching. I have taught all ages, and for a time, I had the nursery. During that year or so, I wrote weekly "Wilson Chronicles" describing the antics of one little fellow with big ideas and the courage to rival Daniel! Nothing compares to the fun of Cub Scouts or Webelos. What a privilege to teach young people Mormon doctrine and history five days a week at 6:15 AM! How would YOU bring the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or other scripture alive for sleepy teenagers! Truly the Lord has an interest in these kids and He helps!
Currently, I direct the Mormon organization for children in our area. Every week, we sing songs that teach doctrine in memorable ways. I work with men and women, teachers, who love and teach the smaller groups of children. We hold our callings in the Primary as sacred and really believe that if the Savior visited Kentucky, he would spend some time with these little ones. In November, our thirty or so youngsters will "preach" a Sunday sermon to our congregation though word and song. They will teach what they have been learning all year--"Choose the right, when the choice is placed before you--because WE are children of GOD and have the power to choose." Primary children all over the world will do the same.
And for all this, we, the volunteers, pay 10% tithing. The whole thing works because it is true. I know it.

Following the birth of his newborn daughter, Kevin Livingstone decided he needed to make meaningful changes in his life that would allow him to draw closer to God and help him be a better husband and father.